NCAA Men's College Basketball Power Rankings: Alabama supplants Duke at No. 2 - ESPN

For a few hours this past Saturday, it looked like we were on track to have a real debate about which team should be No. 1 in this week's AP poll. Auburn got blitzed at home by Florida, Duke got dropped on the road at Clemson, then Alabama held off Arkansas for the road win.

But in both the AP poll and these Power Rankings, Auburn keeps its place at the top.

The Tigers' total body of work is superior to that of every other team in the country. They're No. 1 in the NET, KPI, ESPN's strength of record, Wins Above Bubble, KenPom — you name it. They also have 13 Quadrant 1 wins when no other team has more than eight, tallying the most combined Quadrant 1 and 2 wins in the country.

Alabama is No. 2 in each of the three résumé-based metrics, but the Tide aren't better than No. 5 in BPI, KenPom, Torvik or the NET.

Fortunately, the Tigers and Tide will settle the No. 1 debate on the court Saturday (4 p.m. ET, ESPN) in what should be the game of the year.

Previous ranking: 1

Following Saturday's home loss to Florida, Bruce Pearl made a tweak to his starting lineup, moving Chad Baker-Mazara to the bench and bringing Chris Moore off it. Moore ended up not playing much against Vanderbilt, scoring just 4 points in 13 minutes, while Baker-Mazara had a scoreless 28 minutes. Pearl said after the game the decision was for health reasons, as Baker-Mazara is «flat-out banged up.» But the move also gave Pearl an elite three-man bench group in Baker-Mazara, Chaney Johnson (who scored 20 points) and Tahaad Pettiford. It will be interesting to see whether Pearl rolls with it moving forward.

Next seven days: at Alabama (Feb. 15), vs. Arkansas (Feb. 19)

Previous ranking: 3

Entering the season, Alabama was perceived as having one of the deepest,